To tackle the name mixup, Li has launched a competition on social media, inviting people to come up with funny ways to keep the two countries apart.

The poster for the competition, which is open until November 20th, is choc-a-bloc with objects and people associated with the two countries.

The Swedish map has a Dalecarlian horse (a traditional wood carving) and then a smörgåsbord selection of male images associated with the country — five in all: A viking, two gay men getting married, Alfred Nobel, and finally a guy on parental leave with a baby strapped to his chest.

The rather lacklustre gallery of images on the map of Switzerland might shed some light on Swedish ignorance of the Swiss, meanwhile, but that's a different story.

At least tennis ace Roger Federer, highly popular in China, is represented, along with such images as a watch, an Alphorn player and bags of money nestled with bars of gold (representing Switzerland's banking sector).

And talking about sports stars, let's not forget that Swedish table-tennis champ JO Waldner, while perhaps not as well known internationally as Federer, is a Chinese house god.

"He's a superstar over there, dubbed 'the eternally green tree' or something," said Swedish designer Anna Forsberg who used to live in Beijing and Kunming.

"I was actually quite surprised by how well acquainted people in China were with Sweden," she said.

"Although, of course, maybe you without knowing it fed people prompt words like Volvo if they didn't seem to pick up on the country name in conversation."

Once the Swiss-Swedish competition wraps up in China, the winner will be shipped off on holiday to both destinations.

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